Cattle producers and markets faced massive disruptions due to COVID‐19 in both supply and demand for cattle and beef. Restaurant and food service shutdowns affected beef demand. Closures and slowdowns of beef processors caused a logjam of live cattle in the supply chain. The resulting effects on cattle producers at all levels were lower prices and abnormal cattle flows, but the magnitudes of those effects were not homogenous across size and type of cattle. In this article, we detail how the COVID‐19 pandemic has affected cattle markets and cattle producers across the different sectors. We also discuss policy responses and considerations.

Abstract.The recently implemented Rainfall Index Annual Forage pilot program aims to provide risk coverage for annual forage producers in select states through the use of area rainfall indices as a proxy for yield. This article utilizes unique data from a long-term study of annual ryegrass production with rainfall recorded at the site to determine whether the use of rainfall indices provides adequate coverage for annual forage growers. The rainfall index is highly correlated with actual rainfall. However, it does not provide much yield loss risk protection for our cool-season forage data.

Beef cattle (Bos taurus) production systems in the southeastern United States are often riddled with inefficiencies, particularly when it comes to forage management, and the lack of high‐quality forages utilized during the warmer months of the year. A grazing trial was conducted in east‐central Mississippi on a fine sandy loam soil in which bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) was interseeded with ‘Bulldog 505’ alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). The randomized complete block design consisted of three treatments: (a) unfertilized bermudagrass (BG), (b) fertilized bermudagrass (100 lb N acre–1 yr–1) (BGN), and (c) bermudagrass interseeded with alfalfa (BGA). Forage production, along with animal performance, and economic analysis were compared across all three treatments for three grazing seasons (2017–2019). The BGA system had greater cumulative forage mass (FM), crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) compared with the BG treatment. The BGA treatment had the greatest average daily gain (ADG; 1.83 lb head–1 d–1) and GAIN (178 lb acre–1). Based on increased forage and animal performance, the BGA treatment had a net revenue of US$75.61 acre–1, compared with the BG ($15.49 acre–1) and BGN (–$26.50 acre–1) treatments. Our results indicate that interseeding alfalfa into bermudagrass pastures has the potential to increase farm profitability, especially with fluctuations in N prices.

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The COVID‐19 pandemic created massive disruptions in meat supply chains including the US poultry industry. Detrimental impacts to chicken demand due to restaurant closures led to supply adjustments affecting broiler producers. The integrated structure of the broiler industry creates significant challenges in estimating grower losses. Farmers who raise broiler chickens do not own the birds and price drops are not directly felt in the same manner as in other commodities. This article examines the broiler industry and presents methodology to better understand the farm‐level impacts of COVID‐19. Further, this work is useful for policy response considerations for broiler growers.